Vegetable pulav is a mix of spicy vegetables with rice. This is a great dish for lunch. If you are not in the mood to prepare a big meal, use vegetable pulav as a one-dish meal. Serve with yogurt, pickle, papadam or chutney.

Serves 2 to 4.

Ingredients:

For rice

1 cup basmati or long grain rice

2 cups water

2 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon salt

For vegetables

3 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)

1 medium sized potato, chopped into 1/2″ cubes

1 carrot, chopped

1 cup cauliflower, cut into small pieces

1 cup frozen green peas

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

2 long sliced green peppers

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon garam masala

1 tablespoon lemon juice

For garnish:

2 tablespoons minced cilantro

Method

Preparing the rice:

Heat the oil in a saucepan. Test the oil by adding one cumin seed; if seed cracks right away oil is ready.

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107 thoughts on “Vegetable Rice (Pulav)”

I make this with Brown Basmati rice (India’s Own is the best brand). Brown rice takes long time to cook so I use the pressure cooker for rice. I found that when using brown rice you shouldn’t let it fry in the oil. If it is fried the rice in the end turns out very crisp and not chewy and soft. So I add rice and water at the same time to avoid frying it. This pulao recipe turned out excellent. Also along with ginger I add 3 cloves of garlic. Thank you so much Manjula…

Hello..
Manju ji
Iam big fan yours n youre dishes…
I have tried toure veg pulav it has come out very well v alm loved it….
So i have party at my home i want to prepare this veg pulav again there vill approx 20 people so can you please help me in the measurment of rice to cooked for 20 people….this is first iam preparing for this many people it vill great if you help me out how many cup of rice to be cooked fir 2p people…
Thank u.☺☺☺

Hi aunty,
You had the best and most authetic recipe I have seen so far. You took your tine, did not hurry, and I was reminded of cooking with my grandmother who was always very patient in explaining. So thank you again aunty!

Hi Manjula Mam,
Your recipes are amazing and tastes great. I am a big fan of yours and totally in love with your recipes. The best part is that no onion is required and all your recipe takes hardly any time. I am working and it used to be difficult for me to cook everyday but now cooking is so damn easy. Thanks a ton.

Yes, I made the pulao last night and followed the video. I didn’t add garam masala at the end because it tasted quite flavourful without it.
Manjulaji, I have tried making pulao several times in the past and then I gave up making it because it never used to come out well. Somehow I found your web site as I was searching for some recipes. The pulao was a hit last night and now I am not afraid of making pulao again 🙂

I like the way you explain, slow and methodic. I’m actually going to make this pulao for dinner tonight. I do have one question, in the video you did not add garam masala but the print below the video says to add garam masala. I think I will just follow the video…

I greatly appreciate your website and videos. I live in Maine and have never had Indian food, but I tried your Samosas and everyone loved them! Now I’m cooking Indian food all of the time and my spice rack is full of wonderful new spices thanks to you. Thanks for expanding my palate (and thanks from my family and friends!)

Thank you for the organizers, camera men, and Manjula didi has become our house member to consult before making any new dish, now we are enjoying many best of the best Veg food because of Manjula didi.
Thank you very much for all of you

i did this pulao and it came so nice..i would like to do this for my baby 1st birthday for about 40 people .can you pl tell me the measure of rice since i’ve not done for so many people.i’ve planned to serve this with raita .

I’m very new to your website but I’m loving it. I made pulav yesterday and we’ve never enjoyed pulav so much before it was great thank you. First time my husband said you beat my cooking so that’s a great compliment 🙂

Thank you so much, this was very interesting. I was actually born in Madrid (I’m not telling you what year though!) but moved around europe and lastly settled in Britain when I was 5. I dont remember an awful lot of the few years I was in spain, but the delicious smell of spanish food always seems to get me going or something. Funny, how I dont remember anything except the smells,isn’t it! I even found a whole internet site dedicated to spanish recipes, which gave me great delight and thought I ought to share. Anyway, thank you again. I’ll get my son to add your website to my rss app…

Hi Manjula ji! I tried today a variation of your recipe because I had all the required vegetables but they were frozen and I wanted to use fresh. So instead of cauliflower I used zuchinni and instead of peas I used mushrooms. My result of course is different from your but still the dish was veeeery goood! However I think three tablespoons of oil for a cup of rice is a little too much, next time I will use only two. You are doing a great job here, thank you very much!

Biriyani is essentially a little bit more sourish in taste because of youghurt which is a key ingredient! Biriyani is more of a special dish because we take the trouble of adding fragrance and color( like saffron and orange color sometimes) ..you don’t break out the frills with veg.pulaov 🙂 Atleast this is what its like in my house:)

“A Biriyani is in fact a rice sandwich, where layers of meat / veggies served sandwiched between layers of rice. It is interesting to see that many rules for a good sandwich also apply to a biriyani.

1. It should be perfectly cooked, but not soggy.

2. It should have multiple layers

3. It can have vegetable / meat fillings

4. It should be assembled in a colourful, artistic way, with all layers clearly visible – the brilliant white of the rice layer, with splashes of saffron, the brown/ red/ orange meat layer, and the whitish brown layer where these layers mix.

In addition, the golden rule in a biriyani is that no two grains of rice should stick together.

Many confuse between Biryani and another middle eastern rice recipe, the pilaf. Remember that a Biryani is a sandwich at heart, whereas a pilaf ( pulao) is not. A pulao is a one pot dish where rice gets cooked in a meat / vegetable broth. (Interestingly the Spanish paella, is a variation of the pulao and the Cajun / creole Jambalaya is also another version of the pulao) But it does not get assembled in layers like a Biryani.”

namaste! i want to thank you so much for sharing your recipes with us. your videos are so helpful to learn indian cooking and i love hearing your tips and comments on the recipes. i just made this pulav and it was absolutely delicious, perfect lunch with a lassi. THANK YOU!! you are doing a wonderful service

Thank you so much for your recipes and your clear presentation! I learned how to cook roti some months ago with your fabulous video. Please continue to share your cooking wisdom with us! Blessings on you and your family.

All your dishes are fantastic. You are teaching cooking in a very easy and simple fashion and they are still very very tasty and yummy. In a way, you are doing a fantastic service to human kind by posting all these video blogs on how to cook vegetarian dishes. Even without using Onions and with using minimum spices, you are making awesome tasty dish. My wife tried lots of varieties by viewing your videos, thats how I learnt about you. Now she is in India and I have to survive myself. I tried Veg Pulao today, ofcourse I took 2 hours to prepare because I am a beginner cook. It came wonderful. So many people would have been helped by you like this by what you do. I want to thank you a thousand times for your kindness in doing such wonderful help/guidance, and praying God that (S)He should give you a lots of happiness to all your family members. You are such an inspiration. You should write atleast a little more about you and your family on this blog.

I do not want to call you auntie as I am nearing my 40s and you may not be much older than me . But , I am so tempted to call you so out of love because you just made my life so great .

I lifted your recipes for Briyani , paratha, imli chutney , hari chutney , cutlet for my diwali feast. These were my main dishes along with several others that I served for my very best friends – a group of 12 people. They just loved my cooking and my husband and 9 yr old son were so appreciative. My feast was a hit. My two days worth of hard work amidst a full time job did not go wasted.

I made paav bhaji and kachori today . For someone who has never tasted kachori before in life, it dawned on me why so many people die for kachoris . And beleive me , I just could not believe that I made such perfect kachoris . Thank you .

I am an ardent fan of cooking websites but I am not looking anywhere beyond yours since I discovered it one month back. Thanks a bunch – I really love the fact that your dishes do not call for oil / butter more than what is needed . They are all vegetarian and the instructions are so clear that an impatient person like me could make such delicious food. Ah one more point – today I noticed that you were frying the kachoris over the electric wire stove and I am totally in surrender – Man, I never thought that you could cook over a electric wire stove leave alone cook indian cuisine. You are awesome and your daughter is lucky .

One last thing – your disposition and your delivery is so awesome – so awesome that any one – indian /non-indian – will think that Indian cuisine is easy to cook . Ah I cannot seem to stop.

Hi Manjula Auntie,
My friend told me about your website. And she made you veg pulao a few times. It is a major hit!!
Its just awesome and i made it today. It is just great!
Thanks for your recipe.
Angela

hi manjula aunty….
believe me when i heartily thank u….the reason is very simple…u made something possible that even my mom couldnt do in all
these years- arouse my culinary talent…..ur recipes and demo are just terrific…and above all the homely feel of ur videos
work wonders….i btried ur punjabi chole, yellow fried rice, rajma and dal tadka….got so many rave reviews….
thanks a lot…everyday i try to learn something new from u…. my husband is already a grt fan of urs..
take care and thanks again
divya, bangkok

Hello Manjula,
Tonight we are having the Vege rice – it has turned out really delicious – I served it with sour cream and hot lime pickle – I enjoyed it. My daughter asks me for receipes, I just sent her your website. She should start producing some delicious dishes all thanks to you.
Thank you Manjula.

Dear Manjula,
I made this Vegetable Pulao for my company potluck. It was relished by all. The flavors and the colors were special. Just one suggestion on the amount of water used. For two cups of Basmati rice, I had to use three and a half cups of water, even a little less would have made the rice grainy (less soft)

Hi Jaya
I too use extra water for cooking rice – I like the rice softer rather than too grainy and stiff. If the left over rice seems stiff I sprinkle the rice with water and heat it up in the micro.
Bye, monica

Hello Manjula.
Thank you so much for your recipes. I had vegetables in my refrigerator that were about to go bad if I didn’t use them….this recipe was perfect, and my picky husband even liked it! Thank you again.

Thanks a lot for posting all these wonderful recipes. I really enjoy visiting your website and trying out dishes. I got married recently and was unsure about trying out new dishes until I came across your videos. Till date, I have tried out Palak paneer, paneer butter masala, vegetable pulav and mutter paneer and my husband just loves all that I have made till now. I learnt how to make rotis just by looking at your video. So, a big ‘THANK YOU’ from me and my husband for all your wonderful work 🙂 And please do keep the recipes coming!!!

hello manjula aunty,
i am a house wife now and started cooking after watching you. you are an inspiration to me.my dishes come out well and my husband really enjoys them.he says a big thanks to you also.i also suggest you to publish nore items for snacks that are simple so i can make them in the evenings.thanks a lot.

hi Manjula Aunty
I just got ur website…..its great.I cant cook but after watching ur site i will try to cook……all the recipes are quiet excellent and selicious……..i become hungry watcing the videos…..
Regards
B.Das
Nottingham,UK

hello Manjula Aunty.
Your recipes are so delicious i love to try your recipes,they really tastes good thats the reason my husband tells me manjula student trainee.i would love to learn more recipes from u ,i would be very glad if u would show the recipe of dum aloo,
Thanks,
Regards ,
Kiran.

Hello Manjula, I’m very happy to visit your website, it’s amazing ! I come from Belgium, I’ve got to go India in march and I’ve eating a delicious rice with coconuts, almonds, cashews, … I forget the other things but it was a miracle. Do you known this recipe? Sorry for my english, my language is french… Thanks for your answer and good day, Anne

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